The Russellville Junior High football teams get their season underway tonight with a pair of games against the two junior highs from Van Buren. Russellville East will host Van Buren Butterfield, while West hits the road to take on Van Buren Coleman.

In other games involving area teams: Clinton travels to Dardanelle, Bigelow pays a visit to Danville, Ola travels to Perryville and Dover hosts Waldron.

Kickoff for all games is 7 p.m.

RJHS East

It will be hard to tell who is more excited about getting the season started - the coaching staff or the players.

"We're ready. Every coach in America is saying it this time of year, but it is going to be nice to hit somebody else," East coach Jeff Terry said. "I think we are physcially ready. Now it's up to (the players) to be mentally ready."

The Whirlwinds will rely on their big offensive line, which averages 300 pounds across, to move Van Buren Butterfield out of the way for running back Drew Harris and to give quarterback Brandon Keaton enough time to find receivers.

"Execution, execution, execution," Terry said of what his team needs to do. "We don't have a lot of plays, we only have four or five, but we need to run the plays that we got in well."

Last year, East won 28-0, but don't read anything into that warns the coach.

"In junior high, you graduate your players every year with only one or two coming back," Terry said. "Last year, this game was the only one our eighth-grade team won, but you never compare to what you did last year."

Even though this will be the first game of the season, he does know a little about Van Buren.

"They have a really good quarterback," Terry said. "They run the wishbone and run the ball straight up. I'm looking for a big game out of our defensive linemen and linebackers to shut their running game down. We're expecting them to be physical."

Only one starter will miss the game due to injury. Left guard Jacob Edwards separated his shoulder in practice, but should be back for next week's game.

RJHS West

Joey Jones will be calling the shots for the first time as the West head coach when the Whirlwinds take on Van Buren Coleman.He admits he doesn't know much about what to expect from his opponent.

"That's the thing about the first game of the season. You don't have any film to watch, and that is a concern," Jones said.

Still, the coach feels his team is prepared to meet the challenge.

"We had the best practice we've ever had (Wednesday)," Jones said. "We are getting a little better every day. I felt better (Wednesday) than I have all year."

Some players are banged up, but all will be playing.

"That is good considering we've been working them hard," Jones said. "(Tuesday) we practiced until 6:30."

The key for the Whirlwinds will be the running game tonight.

"We've got to establish the running game," Jones said. "We have to be able to run the ball between the two tackles. We have a good running back, but we have to get him past the line of scrimmage, so he can break out."

Like East, they are ready to get going.

"We're very excited - the players, all the way down to the assistant coaches," Jones joked. "The coaches are anxious to get them out there and see how they are going to react."